Incorporating thermal tolerance and niche breadth into conservation planning for threatened tropical island species

As the planet warms, the ability of tropical species to adapt to rising temperatures is a key conservation concern. The adaptive potential of species’ thermal and behavioural niches determines their capacity to respond to these changes, yet this information is unknown for most taxa. Against a backdrop of global climate change, species-specific understanding of adaptive potential is therefore critical in determining strategic and adaptive conservation management for threatened taxa. The student will join a collaborative team developing novel approaches to conservation management that incorporate adaptive potential into species conservation assessments and conservation management practices. To develop this approach, they will study amphibians in the Seychelles; a tropical archipelago located in the western Indian Ocean. Physiological assays and population genomics will be paired with bioacoustics data, museum specimens and fieldwork to determine the adaptive potential of sooglossid frogs; a family (with eight evolutionarily distinct lineages) that is endemic to the Seychelles Inner Islands of Mahé, Silhouette, and Praslin, and susceptible to extinction due to its limited geographic distribution and multiple anthropogenic stressors facing the islands. A key component of this project is engagement with government bodies, NGOs, students, and other local partners in Seychelles. This will commence from the outset and continue throughout the project duration. As such, the student is expected to engage with colleagues, partners, and collaborators across all aspects of the research – from fieldwork to policy-level planning – and develop relationships to deliver real-world action for amphibians in this biodiversity hotspot.